There was a time you were trapped in a box canyon, no way out, escape impossible, UNTIL… ********** Life is full of box canyons. How easily we’re lured into their labyrinthine lairs. We stumble in circles, groping like the blind for the exit, any exit. We bounce from pillar to post, hopelessly hemmed in, staggering …
Competition is brutal, mano a mano. The stakes are high. Only the strong survive. Think twice if you’re trying to stay in the game. ********** Born again, the mantra of America. A rebirth every minute for somebody, a company, a new name, a new game. Something dies, something new is born. There is no void …
The War of Independence was an unfair matchup. England, population 6.4 million, a military of 2.4 million and an awesome armada, versus The Colonies, about 2.5 million farmers and colonists. No Las Vegas bookie would have bet on America. But God did. ********** There’s a rebellious streak in youth. It’s a natural tendency. It’s born …
Summer announces itself in many ways. Our memories have stored the sights, sounds and scents of the season from days of youth, which is maybe the best way to think of summer. ********** It’s early morning when I open the car door at Dr. Greene’s office. I’m here for a fasting blood test to determine, …
The most precious and coveted parcel of real estate in an asphalt-paved world is a 10’ x 15’ parking space, especially if it’s the last one open. ********** It’s Memorial Day weekend. The parking lot is a teeming mosh-pit of irritable shoppers. Common courtesy, like yesterday’s chewed bubble gum, lies melting on the scorching pavement. …
“O, hypocrites, you can discern the face of the sky; but can you not discern the signs of the times?” Matthew 16:3 ********** Reading is dangerous. It exhumes thoughts, disturbing thoughts, thoughts that poke us, voices that whisper, images of smiling frogs being boiled, signs that expose culture’s addictive character. Can we change our …
It was a late-summer Sunday when eight of us pulled up to the gates of Angola State Prison, Angola, Louisiana. The notice read: “You are entering a penal institution,” a wakeup call for nerves. We were here to witness the annual Angola Prison Rodeo. For over fifty years the prison has staged this rodeo. It’s …
Be careful of the pedestal you erect if you’re the hero of your own story. Anonymous ********** Our screened porch overlooks the pool and two small gardens. It’s a pleasant place to watch the birds elbow for position on the feeder and listen to their chorale, especially early morning, when mental initiative sleeps in. Suddenly …
“And the eyes of them both were opened, and they saw that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.” Cataract surgery can backfire on you. ********** Cataracts have been a scourge on mankind since the dawn of time. Medical science has merged with technology and money to eradicate this …
“And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men to myself.” Words of Jesus, John 12:32 This is Holy Week in the Christian world. Through all the passion and pageantry, the cross takes center stage. But for most of the other 364 days, it stands naked and alone, suspended on pedestals in …